Children in the Dark
by Urun
Summary: Annabel Graves returns home when her younger sister goes missing. Her mother resorts to prayer and refuses to work with the police. Meanwhile, a neighbor commits suicide. Can the BAU help this time? ReidXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Children in the Dark

**Full Summary:** College student Annabel Graves returns home when her 15 year old sister, Elizabeth, goes missing. Her mother, a fanatic churchgoer, resorts to prayer and refuses to work with the police to find Elizabeth. Meanwhile, a neighbor commits suicide leaving a surprise. Two other girls have been kidnapped. Both of them have been found, dead. Will Elizabeth be the third victim or can Annabel and the BAU find her in time? ReidXOC.

**A/N:** Yeah...a Criminal Minds story. I was watching an Asian horror movie (it wasn't good) when I thought of this. I couldn't get it out of my head, so while I am currently in the process of editing and finishing my True Blood fanfiction, I'm writing this on the side. My True Blood story is basically what I would consider another True Blood episode. With this story, I want to create the feeling of not only watching Criminal Minds, but being there. Please help me by reviewing with constructive criticism. I appreciate it! Without further ado, here is the (very short) prologue to my first Criminal Minds fanfiction!

* * *

_No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow. _

-Euripides

**Prologue**

Elizabeth woke up with a pounding headache. Her body ached and it was dark, so terribly dark. The dark was a phobia of hers, something she never got over, and now, probably wouldn't. She whimpered, terrified of what could be lurking just a few feet in front of her. A few feet she couldn't see.

With trouble, she tried to recall the events leading up to her situation. She could only remember bits and pieces of what had happened before. There was church which she attended every Sunday and Wednesday with her mother and then the grocery store where her mother had sent her to grab more green beans. She knew something had happened on her way home, she just couldn't remember. She didn't want to remember, that much she knew.

A chill swept past her; it was cold on the floor. She was only in a thin long-sleeved shirt and jeans, her jacket and shoes missing. Trying to move she realized her hands and feet were bound with rope. She struggled uselessly for an eternity before she gave up, succumbing to sobs. Her wrists and ankles were raw from the rough movement.

Her breaths came in short, quick gasps causing her to loose too much carbon dioxide. Feelings of nausea and vertigo attacked her system as she realized her mistake. She was hyperventilating.

"Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallow be thy name," she recited with a hoarse voice. This calmed her down, as she knew it would. Every night when the dark was too much, she would say this prayer. It was her lifeline. Now it was her sanity.

Exhaustion attacked her full force as her stomach growled in despair. Elizabeth hadn't eaten since the morning of church. She had grabbed an apple, forgoing the breakfast her mother had made as she had woken up late. Now she regretted that action.

It took most of her remaining energy to finish the prayer causing her to close her eyes in fatigue. "When I open my eyes, this will all be gone. I'll be home," she whispered, wishing she really believed it. Feeling as composed as one could be in her situation, she fell into an uneasy sleep, unaware of the eyes watching her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Children in the Dark

**Full Summary:** College student Annabel Graves returns home when her 15 year old sister, Elizabeth, goes missing. Her mother, a fanatic churchgoer, resorts to prayer and refuses to work with the police to find Elizabeth. Meanwhile, a neighbor commits suicide and leaves a surprise. Two other girls have been kidnapped in the same way. Both of them have been found, dead. Will Elizabeth be the third victim or can Annabel and the BAU find her in time? ReidXOC.

**A/N:** So here is the next chapter. Not quite as long as I had hoped, but my hands and feet are frozen and I'm tired, so this will have to do. I haven't edited this or the prologue yet. I'll probably do that later in the story (like my True Blood fic). For now, enjoy! You get some Reid action in this one :) Oh and you meet the main character.

Oh, and one more thing. Can anyone tell me what short story I took the name "Arnold Friend" from? Kudos to you if you can! I'll tell you in the next chapter's A/N.

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_In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning._

-Carl Sandburg

**Chapter One**

Annabel had barely gotten out of her car before two policemen accosted her with questions about Elizabeth and her disappearance. "Miss Graves, I'm Detective Arnold Friend and this is Officer James Cohen. If it isn't too much trouble, we'd like to question you about Elizabeth's disappearance," the older officer drawled. Anna nodded demurely.

Detective Friend was an older man with a rather round belly and thinning hair. Anna happened to know that his wife was the owner of Rose's Nails, the only nail shop in Lovell, Kansas. They had two kids who she had babysat before she went to college. It was strange to hear him speak to her as if they were strangers. Sometimes, Detective Friend took his job too seriously.

Officer Cohen, on the other hand, was new in town. He was young, maybe twenty-five, and handsome. Being a cop gave him the dangerous vibe girls couldn't stay away from. It just made Anna sick.

Annabel led the policemen to the backyard where a pretty picnic table sat in the sunlight. Turning to them, Anna apologized, "I'm sorry we can't go in the house, but Mama's still home and I don't think she'd be too happy with me if I let you both in." The two were expecting this, however, and weren't surprised.

Marianne Graves was a fanatic churchgoer. The obsession border-lined insane. The people of Lovell were God fearing people, but Marianne Graves was a people all in of herself. She could barely leave her house. As it was, she only left for church. She had depended upon Annabel to do normal things such as shopping and working.

Now that Anna had left the nest, those tasks had been left for Elizabeth to carry out. Marianne had tried to help her daughters in her own way by opening up an at-home dry cleaner, but the business never helped much. Most of the customers were pitying neighbors. Neither Annabel nor Elizabeth ever said anything, though.

After sitting down, the questioning began. "Do you know if there is anyone who has a grudge on Elizabeth?" Officer Cohen started out.

Anna knew Detective Friend knew the answer, but responded anyway. "As far as I know, Elizabeth is well liked. She's in a lot of clubs and she volunteers at the elementary school after the high school lets out. Elizabeth is very quiet and she's the kindest person I've ever met."

Tears were welling up in Annabel's eyes, but she wasn't about to let them fall. Detective Friend handed her a handkerchief, just in case.

"Did Elizabeth know the other two victims, Amanda Wolz or Lily Whitaker?" Officer Cohen continued.

"Around here, I'd be surprised if they didn't know each other. Amanda was on the soccer team with her and Lily was on the academic team with her."

Officer Cohen recorded that in his small notebook. After a few moments of scribbling, he looked up. "Just to be sure, you were out of town on the night she was kidnapped?"

The tears were getting harder to hold in. Anna hadn't cried once since she got the news her sister was missing. At first she was shocked, then panic ridden. The tear stage was obviously next. Trying to keep her voice steady she answered slowly, "Yes, I go to the University. I'm majoring in biology and I'm working on a minor in microbiology. I haven't been home since Christmas break."

"Alright, Miss Graves, I can see that you're a bit emotional right now, so I'm just going to ask one last question. The last time you spoke with Elizabeth, did she mention anything peculiar?"

Anna shook her head. "No, nothing. Elizabeth wasn't one for sharing anything unpleasant, if that's what you mean."

The young officer nodded unhappily. "I see. Thank you for your time, Miss Graves. Hopefully the next time we see each other your sister will be safe with me." Officer Cohen then began to his trek to the police car.

Detective Friend gave her a hug. It was fatherly and warm and full of sympathy. It was almost too much. "Anna, we'll find her. We've actually called in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. They are the good at what they do. I have absolutely no doubts that they won't bring this villain to justice and get your sister back. Stay strong, okay?"

Anna could only cry in the officer's arms. "Why did it have to be her? Why wasn't I here with her? Then I could have kept her from going out. She didn't have to…she didn't have to ," her words died out and sobs filled their place.

"Ahem, excuse me," a male voice called. Anna's sobs quieted to gentle hiccups, but she still didn't pull away from Detective Friend. In front of her were two people, a very handsome black man and a pretty dark haired woman. They looked almost out of place in her backyard.

"Are you Annabel Graves?" the man asked. Anna nodded her head. She still couldn't speak. "I'm SSA Morgan, this is SSA Prentiss, and Dr. Reid is somewhere in the front yard, taking a look around."

Detective friend then introduced himself. "Officer Cohen and I just finished questioning Annabel. She arrived from the University this afternoon. If you want to start questioning someone, I would recommend Anna here. She's not in the best shape right now, but at least she'll talk. Marianne Graves wouldn't talk to anyone less than Jesus right now. She doesn't really trust anyone, not since Tom ran out on her and the girls."

The woman, SSA Prentiss, thanked Detective Friend for his friendly warning before sitting at the picnic table. Detective Friend sat Anna down across from her, giving her shoulder a light squeeze before announcing his leaving.

"Remember what I said, Anna. Stay strong." With that he left the backyard without a single backward glance. Whatever comfort came from the familiarity of Detective Friend left as soon as his form disappeared. Anna was left alone with the two agents.

"Annabel, I know you've been questioned once already, but is it okay if we ask you some questions ourselves?" Agent Prentiss asked delicately. Anna had calmed down considerably since she first began to bawl.

"Yes, go ahead. I'll do whatever it takes to get Elizabeth back."

"Did Elizabeth ever tell you about someone following her, or something unusual happening before her disappearance?" Prentiss questioned.

"No. If Elizabeth and I talked, we talked about how Mama's doing. Mama has trust issues, like Detective Friend said. She hermits herself inside the house and only comes out for church. She's been getting worse though, so that's what Elizabeth and I normally talked about."

"How did you get here so quickly? Your mother didn't call the police until early this morning," Agent Morgan asked.

"Actually, I called the police. Yesterday afternoon, Mama called me, frantic, because Elizabeth wasn't home yet. It only takes ten minutes to get to the store and back. Elizabeth had been gone for two hours. Elizabeth's not like that. We knew something was wrong." Once Anna had started talking, she couldn't stop.

"I left the University as soon as Mama called me. I was hoping that Elizabeth was playing a cruel joke or something, but when Mama called me to tell me that Elizabeth still hadn't come home, I knew I had to call the police. Mama wasn't going to do it, so I had to do it for her."

The confession almost stung. It hurt to know that her mother was far gone that she wouldn't even get help for Elizabeth.

"Your mother didn't call the police?" Prentiss asked shocked. Anna couldn't even nod, she just winced. "Why would…" Prentiss' next words were cut off when a high pitched screech and a terrified scream rang out.

"Reid!" Prentiss and Morgan simultaneously said. "Mama!" Anna groaned. All three of them rushed to the front yard where a tall and completely afraid man cowered as Marianne Graves swatted him with her aging broom.

Horrified, Anna dashed to the defenseless man's aid and snatched the broom away from her mother. "Mama, what are you doing?" she shrieked.

As dignified as a duchess, Marianne answered quickly. "I don't know who this man is or who those two over there are, but I certainly did not invite them to my house nor did I let them on my property."

"What? I told you I'm an FBI agent with the BAU!" the man defended, still on the ground.

Mama spit on the ground, narrowly avoiding the man. Anna blushed ten shades of scarlet and began to scold her mother. "Mama, not now. Go back into the house. We can talk later. Just go away!"

With one last glare at the three agents, Marianne walked inside and slammed the door. Still blushing, Anna helped the man up. "You must be Dr. Reid. I'm Annabel and that delightful creature was my mother. I'm terribly sorry if she hurt you. She's not quite right anymore. Please don't blame her." Anna couldn't even look him in the eyes.

After dusting himself off, Reid chuckled. "Don't worry. She just startled me. I wasn't expecting anyone to attack me from behind."

Anna glanced up and was surprised to see such a young face staring back at her. What surprised her even more was the fact that she found the total nerd vibe he had super cute. Now she felt even more embarrassment from her mother's antics.

"Reid, what were you doing?" Morgan asked with a smile. He and Prentiss seemed to find the whole situation hilarious.

"Nothing. Well, actually. I noticed this necklace in the dirt by the window over there. It looked familiar." He held up a delicate gold chain with slender gold cross. Annabel couldn't help but gasp.

"That's Elizabeth's necklace. She never takes it off. I have one, too." Hastily she pulled an identical necklace out from under her shirt. Tears were starting to well up again. Luckily, her will power was enough to hold them down.

"Did she have this on when she was kidnapped?" Morgan asked.

Annabel shrugged pathetically. "I don't know. I would assume so, as she's never taken it off once since we got these. Mama said she didn't come home though, and I know Mama would have seen her if she had gotten to the house before she was taken."

"That's strange," Reid voiced aloud. The agents seemed to be thinking.

"It was my gift to her. Mama never bought Christmas presents, so I saved up some money for a long time to get these matching necklaces. One for both of us."

It was quiet.

"Do you think we could look inside your house? Without your mother?" Prentiss asked finally.

Anna shifted uneasily, her blue eyes focused on the cold ground. "You can come tomorrow. Come after ten in the morning and I can guarantee a Marianne free house for most of the day." After the agents left, Anna would call the priest of their small church and ask him to ring her mother. He could persuade Marianne to come to the church the next day to pray for Elizabeth.

"Thank you Annabel. We'll do everything we can to get your sister," Prentiss assured. Morgan and Prentiss then turned to leave.

Reid suddenly turned to her. "Your sister is still alive. If she's like the other victims, then she still has time. I just wanted you to know that."

Anna nodded.

The trio then left her standing in her driveway. Completely alone. As she made her way to her front door, movement from the neighboring window caught her attention. At the second story bedroom window, her neighbor, Pope Wilkerson, stood studying her. His stare sent icy chills through her body. He watched her walk into her house and even though she couldn't see him anymore, she knew he was staring at the door she walked through.

Trying to push the creepiness aside, she took a deep breath and called for her mother. They had a serious conversation to have. Then it was time to call the priest. The Graves' family couldn't seem to catch a break.


End file.
